Couples
Chapter 127
"That was great!" Rick grins as he closes his laptop. "Detective Beckett strikes again. So, when is Barry going to flip on Britni?"
"His lawyer hadn't arrived yet by the time I left," Kate replies. "But I doubt that it will take long. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a heart to heart with Eli tomorrow."
"Ooh! That sounds a little kinky. But I'm guessing Lana won't mind."
Kate chuckles. "I doubt she will. So, other than shepherding toddlers, what have you been up to?"
"Writing, in between interventions in small person disputes. But I've been hoping to get over to Imagination Patch. The team of Auchincloss and Azaria is going for the win in Kitchen Klash, and Christine offered me a taste test on the dishes. I've always wished that cooking shows could come to us in tastavision or at least smellavision. Viewers like me have at most vicarious pleasure while the judges have the real fun. At least with this Kitchen Klash, I'll get a real-life sampling. Perhaps Lily and I can go tomorrow. Not that it's unusual, but she's been asking for punkin cookies."
"She's consistent," Kate observes. "And it sounds like fun. What do the chefs get if they win?"
"Bragging rights and some money donated to charity. From what Christine tells me if she and Auchincloss snag the victory, the spoils will go to the organization helping Madison. So how about you? If you're shuffling the final steps of Morrison's murder case to Eli, what else will you be doing?"
"I don't know," Kate admits. "Paperwork, unless another body drops."
"Wouldn't that make it a good time to think about using some vacation?" Rick inquires. "Strangely enough, after how we've been joking about Lily's future, the Big Apple Circus is going to be performing at Lincoln Center. It's part of the farewell tour for a clown that's retiring. So I thought if you can get a day off, we could take her together. They have animals but make a point of humane treatment, so they're happy. And around the hair and fur, it may take both of us to hold on to our daughter."
"You may be right. OK, I'll get through my paperwork as fast as possible, and if nothing else pops, I'll talk to Montgomery about taking a day."
Rick pulls her in for a kiss. "I'll buy you a balloon and double popcorn. However, that is future indulgence. And after Lily's day with Belle, I suspect that she will spend blissful hours in dreamland – blissful for us, that is. How about settling down with some of that red wine you like and seeing what comes naturally?"
The tip of Kate's tongue rounds her lips. "Add in some dark chocolate, and you've got a deal."
It takes Azra a few minutes to put together the elements of an identity she can use to place an ad in the Ledger. She needs an email they can verify, but she doesn't use for anything else. She also needs a way to pay. After all the legends she's inhabited through the years, it isn't difficult to build another. She reflects on the fact that, if anything, it's too easy. The world online and off is full of masqueraders and pretenders, many with intentions less benign than her own.
Unfortunately, there's little she can do about that, but she's heard chatter that the agency is working on it – at least as far as the activities of the U.S.'s adversaries are concerned. It doesn't seem to be working very quickly, but it's better than nothing. In the meantime, she can take good advantage of the many security holes.
She makes her message simple: "From 1992, you know the place. The time as always. Tent Woman." Putting an ad in the Personals is obvious but reliable. And as long as she doesn't include any contact information, she won't have to worry about creepers.
"Five stories before she fell asleep. I think that's a new record," Rick grumbles.
"Maybe you should be a little less enthusiastic about acting them out," Kate suggests. "Lily might settle down faster if you're not cavorting around the room."
"You might be right," Rick allows. "It would probably be enough just to do the voices. I made the villain in the last one sound just like Christopher Walken. Want to hear? 'You will never see your children again. I've taken them to my underground lair where one by one they will become dark dwellers, and the only light they will see is that of me, their king.' So what do you think?"
"I think it needs work, but I don't know that story. Where did you get it?"
"I was running out of Lily's favorites, so I made it up on the fly," Rick confesses.
"Damn! You hooked me," Kate admits. "What happened to the children?"
"One of them was the daughter of the starlight queen, who'd been hidden for protection with the good people of the Remington Keys. She used her powers to temporarily blind the dark king and lead the other children back to their parents, who took up arms and banished him from the Keys forever."
"Remington Keys, huh? I don't suppose you drew inspiration from that antique machine in your office?"
"Mea culpa," Rick pleads, pulling Kate tightly against him. "My tale was old-typewriter-inspired. But it did the trick. Lily's asleep. Anyway, I was saving some creativity for later."
Kate's fingers creep under his shirt. "And what kind of creativity would that be?"
"You know," Rick replies, catching Kate up in his arms, "there really are some things that have to be acted out. But I don't want you falling asleep on me."
Kate nips at his ear. "I promise you; I won't."
From long practice, Jack can usually sleep anywhere and anytime, but right now, it's not happening. His glimpse of Azra keeps playing over in his mind. He can't help wondering how deep her change of identity goes. The agency has been known to do more than alter an outer appearance. They could have programmed her somehow to disappear into her new legend. He's seen them do it before. He's seen them do a lot more than that.
But brainwashing is a tricky thing. Azra's skills have served the agency well for decades. The question is, would they take a chance of her skills disappearing with some of her memories. Jack doesn't think so. At least he hopes not. He wasn't dreaming when he saw the recognition in her eyes. If she remembers him, she must remember a lot more.
Jack's made his presence known. Maybe he should let the ball remain in Azra's court for a while. Sometimes she's been smarter than he has. And, if he's honest with himself, it's been more times than not. He checks the glowing dial of the watch sitting on his tiny bedstand. It's 4 a.m. The Ledger hits his door around this time. He could quickly check the news on his phone, but paging through real paper is better than lying in bed in a fruitless attempt to abandon consciousness.
Rising stiffly from between the sheets, he traverses the short distance to the door of his temporary domicile. His delivery was right on the button. Jack picks up a rubber-banded paper cylinder and releases it from its binding.
He's not interested in the front page. By the time news lands there, it's been online for hours. The funnies stuck on the backside of the classifieds are as good a destination as any. As he flips through newsprint, his eyes light on the personal ads. Could Azra have used their old fallback? He runs his finger down the columns of notices. "Tent Woman." That's her. She remembers.